The Twins pursuit of their first year in the playoffs since 2010 will be a major storyline between now and the season’s end October 4, but controversial Joe Mauer’s final batting numbers will be news, too.
Mauer hit .277 last season, the lowest average of his big league career. After yesterday’s game against the Yankees, he is batting .277 with six home runs and 43 RBI. What’s encouraging for the Twins’ top paid player is that during his last 30 games the batting average is .327. He has hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games.
“When the smoke clears I think he’ll be close to that .300 and get his 80, 90 runs driven in,” said Jim Rantz who years ago scouted Mauer for the Twins. “I don’t know where he’ll be with the power numbers. He’ll get his doubles (and singles). Obviously we’re all looking for some extra power, the home runs and so forth.”
With 64 games remaining on the schedule, Mauer will have to hit about .333 the rest of the season to pull the final average up to .300. A reason for optimism is although Mauer’s career has frequently been impacted by injuries—including his famous concussion in 2013—he is healthy this season, according to various sources. “I think that concussion stuff is in the past,” said Rantz, who retired in 2012 after several decades as an executive in the Twins farm system.
Mauer came into this season with a lifetime batting average of .319. That was the seventh highest among players in major league baseball since 1950. Before switching over to first base last season, Mauer could be mentioned in the same breath with baseball’s greatest catchers ever. He is the only catcher to win three batting titles and the only one ever among American Leaguers. He won the 2009 American League MVP Award and also received three consecutive Gold Glove awards for his work behind the plate.
But at 32 and coming off his struggles in 2014 and this year, doubts persist about Mauer’s best days being over. His slugging percentage used to routinely better .400 and even .500, but it’s now under .400 for a second consecutive season. His onbase percentages are way down from the glory days, too. Rantz referred to Mauer’s lack of power, and for sure his six home runs aren’t what is expected from the No. 3 hitter in a major league lineup, and from someone who commands one of baseball’s highest salaries at $23 million per year.
Maybe Mauer is just an old 32 with diminishing reflexes. His 63 strikeouts already this season are trending way higher than his three batting championship seasons.
Could Mauer have more high level production left than skeptics believe? Rantz has admired the Minnesota native’s “sweet swing” since Mauer was in high school. “He’s got the potential to be that hitter like he was,” Rantz said.
Perhaps there is a year or two coming where Mauer can duplicate what his buddy and ex-teammate Justin Morneau did last season with the Rockies. Morneau, too, has a concussion history and after three consecutive disappointing seasons with the Twins won the National League batting title playing for the Rockies in 2014.
Whatever happens with Mauer in the near future, the results will be newsworthy.
Worth Noting
Rantz will participate in this weekend’s reunion of the 1965 Twins World Series team. In 1965 the St. Paul native and former Gopher had just finished managing the Twins’ St. Cloud minor league club when he was asked prior to the World Series to help the Twins public relations department.
“That was (a) pretty good time to join them,” he laughed. Rantz was the club’s assistant public relations director for a few years before moving to the Twins farm department as an executive.
Reunion activities will be attended by many players who were part of the 1965 club that won the American League pennant before losing to the Dodgers in the World Series. Activities will include a ceremony on the field prior to the Twins-Mariners game Saturday. Maria Versalles, granddaughter of 1965 Twins shortstop Zoilo Versalles, and Rick Oliva, son of Twins outfielder Tony Oliva, will sing the National Anthem at Target Field prior to the game.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Twins make a deal soon for 38-year-old catcher A.J. Pierzynski from the Braves. The club needs catching and hitting help. Pierzynski, a former Twin who is hitting .286 with six home runs and 30 RBI, is affordable with a reported one year contract paying him $2 million in 2015.
Twins center fielder Aaron Hicks is a quiet success story, hitting safely in 13 of his last 17 games for a .339 average. He is hitting .271 after batting .192 and .215 in his first two seasons with the Twins.
Bob McNamara, an All-American halfback for the Gophers in 1954, died last July and his legacy in Minnesota included fundraising. Among his endeavors for many years was an annual luncheon in Minneapolis where sports legends helped him raise money for the St. Anthony Athletic Club. Tonight the Bob McNamara Memorial Legends Dinner will be held at TCF Bank Stadium with proceeds benefitting the Gophers football scholarship in his name. Former Wayzata player Brandon Lingen, now a tight end with the Gophers, is this year’s scholarship recipient. Jerry Kill will receive the Bob McNamara Memorial Legends Award because the Gophers head coach exemplifies qualities that characterized McNamara including work ethic, loyalty and generosity.
It’s a common prediction among publications that the Gophers’ football record in the Big Ten this fall will be 4-4 but Collegefootballnews.com projects 5-3. In its Big Ten predictions last Thursday the website forecast an overall record of 8-4 with a nonconference loss to TCU and league losses to Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Gopher swimmer Jessica Plant has been selected as the Big Ten Conference co-honoree for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year. The award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Plant, who is the Big Ten’s honoree along with Kimberly Dinh from Wisconsin, completed her undergraduate career at Minnesota with a 4.0 GPA and earned degrees in both art history and classical civilizations. She plans to pursue graduate work at Cornell University in art history and archaeology in the fall. She was a three-time All-American for the Gophers. The NCAA Woman of the Year national finalists will be announced in late September with the winner to be recognized on October 18 in Indianapolis.
City Council President Barb Johnson said Minneapolis hopes to have a deal in place for a soccer stadium in the Farmers Market area by sometime in August. The deal would be with the Bill McGuire ownership group and involve privately financing the stadium. The plan might include a commitment by the city to ask the state Legislature next year for property tax and sales tax exemptions involving the stadium.
Johnson also told Sports Headliners she and other leaders from the city have been talking with Hennepin County representatives about helping with a stadium deal. The county, like the city, has a vested interest in tax revenue growth and is a big supporter of the rail system in the area.